Kurdish forces, Shiite fighters clash in disputed area in Iraq's Salahudin

Heavy clashes erupted between Iraqi Kurdish forces and Shiite fighters in an ethnically-mixed town in the northern central province of Salahudin, killing five and wounding eight others, a provincial security source and an official said Sunday.

The clashes broke out late on Saturday night and continued in the morning when Shiite Turkoman militants linked to the paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, exchanged fire with Kurdish security members, known as Peshmerga, in the town of Tuz-Khurmato, some 90 km east of Salahudin's provincial capital city of Tikrit, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Dozens of snipers from both sides took positions on buildings in the town and sporadic clashes continued with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, the source said.

The clashes, so far, resulted in the killing of three Hashd Shaabi members and the wounding of five of them, while a Brig. Gen. Serwan Shaqlawi from the Peshmerga and another Kurdish security member were killed, the source added.

A Kurdish policeman and two women were also wounded in the clashes, which also led to cut-off of the main road between the northern city of Kirkuk and Baghdad, he said.

Local authorities imposed a curfew in the town, while officials, political and security leaders gathered for urgent talks in the local government building, seeking to restore calm, the source added.

Mohammed Qucha, a senior official in Salahudin provincial government, told Xinhua "situation in Tuz-Khurmato is very serious by the clashes that erupted last night, and there is also exchange of mortar barrage fire by both sides on the neighborhoods."

"I call on the central government to interfere immediately to cease-fire and to ease the tension created by the recent security deterioration," Qucha said.

Clashes frequently break out in the ethnically mixed town of Tuz-Khurmato which is part of the disputed areas claimed by the Kurds, the Arabs and the Turkomans. The Kurds want to incorporate the areas on the edge of their Kurdistan region, something fiercely opposed by the central government in Baghdad.

Iraq has been witnessing some of the worst violence in years. Terrorism and violence have left at least 12,282 civilians dead and 23,126 others injured in 2014, making it the deadliest year since the flare-up of sectarian violence in 2006-2007, according to UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) report.

In the UN mission's latest estimate, 1,119 Iraqis were killed and 1,561 others wounded in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict across Iraq last month alone.

Source: XINHUA